First OS in Sofala Province, Mozambique

Thu Jan 10 05:55:28 PST 2002

Dear Susanne,

Thank you. I suppose there was an error in the typing and you meant
good old Geert H. Hofstede. He was of great help since I jumped from
Austria to Cape Verde. His dimensions or key differences have been
helpful until now. At the moment I am surrounded by a culture which
seems to have quite a high power distance level.

I tend to understand that OST is one of the quite transcultural
instruments. But I am still at the beginnings of its application and
what I am trying to discuss here is certainly also (or mainly?)
related to my actual socio-cultural fitting process with my
ambiente.

In any case I feel, that there is a lot of conflict potential in the
structure which Artur described quite clearly. Which leads me back to
that other dicussion thread OS-conflict-mediation

A fantasy
Perhaps I should dare to do OST training for local people, being a
beginner myself. Should I call it 'seduce some of them to apply OST
with its steps, principles and the law? And to enter into such a
discussion.
If they would apply it, perhaps some of my questions will be
reformulated or collaps to nonsense.

Because then there would be representatives of different cultures
involved into a discussion where they could participate with the
background of their experience.

Bernhard

On Thu, 10 Jan 2002 09:41:57 +0100, Dr. Susanne Weber wrote:

>Dear friends of the open spaces,
>interesting topic, the nexus between culture and large group
>interventions. What I find very enriching is the the work of Geert
>Hostede about intercultural cooperation and management. He
>comes up with several dimensions at the macro level of societies /
>cultures: the dimensions are:
>
> individualist vs. collecticist orientation
> materialist vs. quality of life orientation
> uncertainty avoidance (f.ex. through securance systems ...)
> power distance - vs. the acceptance of personal power
>
>(and for sure there is more - f.ex. the concept of time, of space
>etc.)
>
>these dimensions were worked out as one of the results of a
>complex empirical analysis - one of the classics, but still useful
to
>understand cultural dynamics better, I think. So I´m really very
>much interested in the topic of culture effects or dynamics in the
>work with large group interventions. In OSONOS Berlin two years
>ago Harrison told us, that Culture didn´t matter and that Open
>Space worked everywhere. I´m very keen to learn more about that.
>Best wishes Susanne
>
>
>
>> Thanks for the conversation, Bernd, John, Jeff, Artur.  Lots of
>>complex and
>> subtle issues here.
>>
>> John, I don't think that being too unattached to outcomes is a
>>problem for
>> most of us, just the reverse.  I see a lot of strength in your
>>willingness to
>> wait for the group to take charge of its own meeting, affirming
>>that the
>> people in the room are fully competent to do just that.
>>
>> And I have been in groups with a major Dead Moose--some willing to
>>talk about
>> it, some too fearful.  Sometimes my own un-anxious presence will
>>encourage
>> someone to begin the conversation.  Sometimes not.  I appreciated
>>the
>> suggestions of possible ways to open the conversation without
>>violating the
>> spirit of Open Space.
>>
>> I have had clients take me aside and ask me to be more directive,
>>which I
>> usually decline to do, in the belief that something important is
>>going on.  I
>> have asked the boss to sit down and give someone else a chance to
>>speak.  I
>> don't think there are any easy answers, but I truly believe that
>>the people
>> in the room have more power than they usually know, and I truly
>>try to work
>> myself out of a job as quickly as possible.  Once I was fired--
>>that was a
>> little quicker than I planned.
>>
>> I do see differences in working with groups in other cultures with
>>people who
>> have no history of being allowed to make their own decisions.  I
>>see this
>> list as a major forum for us to share experiences and learn to be
>>more
>> sensitive to the different histories of different places.  Thanks
>>to Bernd
>> for opening your experience to us!
>>
>> Joelle Everett
>>
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>
>Dr. Susanne Weber
>Institut fuer Erziehungswissenschaft
>der Philipps-Universitaet Marburg
>Wilhelm-Roepke-Strasse 6B
>D-35032 Marburg
>Tel. 0049-642128-23589
>Fax.0049-642128-28946
>
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-----
Bernd Weber wb-trainconsult at gmx.net, on 10.01.2002 at 15:23:01
Organization Development Consultant

"DEVELOP YOUR CAPACITIES - MATERIALIZE YOUR VISION"

C.P. 1462, Beira, Sofala, MOZAMBIQUE
fone: +258-3-32 98 59, cellfone:+258-82-43 79 77

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